Deacon Gookin could be
based on Daniel Gookin, a settler of Virginia and Massachusetts and a writer on the topic of
American Indians. He held several public offices in the colony, and he was an elected magistrate
for thirty-five years. He did, however, undergo a period of diminished popularity as a result of
his sympathies with Native Americans, but his good reputation eventually prevailed.
Goody (Martha) Cory, whom Goody Cloyse calls an "unhanged witch," was
actually hanged on September 22, 1692 after having been convicted of witchcraft. She was
relatively well-respected, and so her accusation and conviction marked a departure from the
less-respected social pariahs whom the accusing girls had named before. Cory was outspoken in
denouncing the witch trials, and this could be why she was accused.
Martha
Carrier, whom the narrator of the story calls a "rampant hag," a woman "who had
received the devil's promise to be queen of hell," was a real-life victim of the Salem
Witch Trials. In...
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